The ODST and the grunt
by skorge
Summary: This is the story of the ODST Jessica and the Unggoy Flimling as they fight for dominace of Installation 04. Follow as they struggle against the horrors this ring has to offer. Please R&R


Chapter 1: landing

Human Perspective

Private 3rd grade Jessica Massey`s heart pounded violently in her chest as she fell towards the surface of the giant ring construct in her drop pod. She had just left the doomed Pillar of Autumn as if was boarded and blown to pieces by covenant plasma fire.

Jessica had left the huge ship along with the rest of the ODSTs, or helljumpers, just in the nick of time because now she saw the cruiser shoot past her rapidly ascending company overhead, starting to blaze as it blew through the ring`s atmosphere.

She returned her focus on herself and her pod. She had always hated insertions like these but then again a helljumper wasn't a helljumper if she wasn`t crazy right? She pressed a series of buttons and fail safes that would release the shoot that would decelerate the drop and the pod jerked violently. Jessica felt like her stomach dropped to her feet and her back compress harshly. When she managed to straighten she groaned behind her black helmet`s visor. Her pod`s sensors indicated that the ground was racing up to meet her. She drew a deep breath and released it just as the pod struck with a bone rattling crash, throwing up dirt and grass.

Inside the pod went dark, except for the small warning light with its blazing red light. Jessica stretched as wide as she could inside the pod to see that no bones were broken and then braced herself. She planted her feet against the hatch and kicked it off its hinges.

Bright sunlight flooded her vision and she had to cover her eyes for five full seconds before jumping out of her metal cage. Once outside she looked around, saw neither friendlies nor hostiles, and sighed with relief. She took the opportunity to stretch again but this time to get the stiffness from her aching muscles. She checked her weapons and equipment, saw that the command pod with Major Antonio Silva had landed about two clicks to the south and started pounding in that direction.

Covenant perspective

The Unggoy minor Flimling, was not pleased at all. After the assault on the human vessel, which he had not been part of, bless the prophets, he and his file of five Unggoy had been sent to the surface along with the first expedition troops to establish a major foothold on the holy ring, Halo. Now however he and his file were prowling through the thick forest in search of whatever human survivors they could find. The humans had escaped their ship and was now scattered all over a radius of three kilometers. He snorted quietly to himself when Haru Pantomeè, their Sangheili minor officer, cuffed one of Flimling`s fellows aside to pass and go ahead of them. The warrior race treated the Unggoy like cannon-fodder and all out slaves. This was their right of course but it made Flimling bristle none the less

"Move you pathetic whelps." Haru barked when the one he had struck failed to rise up fast enough. The Unggoy hurried after him along a huge ravine with a stream of water down below. Flimling gulped as he peered down the cliff.

Flimling was just about to take a calming breath of methane from his mask when he heard the familiar shriek of a banshee aircraft flying overhead. He followed the vehicle as it passed and out of sight behind the high tree tops. Flimling sighed with relief. The banshee hadn`t looked like it had detected anything, which meant no humans to endanger himself or his file.

They marched on until they finally reached the end zone of their patrol; A large open field where a Spirit drop ship hovered and waited for their group and three others to pick up. Flimling walked towards the ship when Haru stopped him.

"Hold, we are not going with the Spirit." He rumbled and Flimling looked up at him.

"What? Why?" he asked. Haru smirked in return.

"We are going down there." He said and pointed down a path along the cliff to where, in the distance, a small smoke pillar rose, indicating one of the human escape pods.

Human perspective

Jessica jogged through the bush alongside a long river which she hoped to follow all the way back to the rest of the platoon. She had secured her weapons, an MA5-B assault rifle and an M6 pistol at her hip. She had already covered half the distance to the command pod and was making good speed as she thought her situation over.

She was alone in unknown hostile territory on some freakish ring world built by God knows who and meant for God knows what. She had to regroup with her company so that they could establish a defense, kick the covenant back into space and get the hell of this thing.

She stopped and ducked behind a boulder when she heard movement. When she looked around the edge of the boulder she smirked. Looks like the kicking covenant part would come first. A jackal sniper was making its way through the foliage. It was a wonder that they reptile/bird thing hadn`t seen her. She aimed her rifle over the boulder and took aim.

"Goodnight you bastard." She whispered and squeezed the trigger. A hail of bullets blew through the bush and tree as they pierced the jackal and tattered its chest. With a screech the alien fell back onto its back, releasing a few shots with his plasma combine as he went down. Jessica allowed herself a smug and ran over to the jackal. It hissed and wheezed as her once it saw its attacker standing over it. Jessica calmly aimed at the thing´s head and drilled three more bullets into its head. It fell silent and Jessica moved onward.

She had barely moved 20 feet before she had to hide again. Two more jackals with energy shield gauntlets came running towards her position with plasma pistols in hand, no doubt looking for their buddy and the source of the gunfire. Jessica knew not to reveal herself to the beasts just yet. Their shields made it difficult to take them on face to face. Instead she let them pass her hiding spot and then turned and aimed at their unprotected backs as they ran past. The first jackal went down as the rounds went through his back and out his chest in a bloody splatter. The other alien had quick reflexes and turned around, energy shield raised. Jessica shot a few rounds at the round shield but they bounced off with no effect. The jackal seemed to smirk and advanced slowly, its plasma pistol firing from around the shield`s edge.

Jessica ducked from the shots and tried to figure a way out of this. The solution came to her when she saw the thick forest at her back. There were plenty of hiding places in there, she thought with a smirk. She sprinted in among the trees with plasma bolts sizzling past her head. The jackal gave pursuit and ran after her. It was too focused on getting revenge for its fallen comrades that it didn`t notice the thickening foliage around it and soon it lost sight of its prey. It screeched and kept running in the direction it had last seen the human flee in.

It had only gone a few meters in that direction when the butt of a rifle shot out from behind a tree trunk and hit its head with a sickening crunch. It fell down with one last hiss before Jessica was upon it. With a shout she pinned it down with her boot in its chest and used her rifle like a bat as she pounded the jackal`s skull again and again.

The head and beak of the alien was soon reduced to a bloody mess and Jessica panted. She gave the body a kick before leaving it there.


End file.
